League: Origin great praises QLD's pack

Billy Moore (L) and Gary Larson were a formidable defensive duo for Queensland in the 1990s. Photos / Getty Images

Billy Moore, the player best remembered for his bellowing "Queenslander" call during the 1995 State of Origin clashes, believes Mal Meninga's current forward pack may be the best balanced in the history of the series.

Moore - one half of Queensland's dynamic back-row with Gary Larson during the 1990s - believes a desperate NSW will struggle to find a way through the middle tonight against a pack which has few if any weaknesses.

"They've got the two best yard getters [Steve Price and Petero Civoniceva] arguably in Queensland's history," Moore said yesterday.

"You've got one of the smartest dummy halves ever in Cameron Smith, there's really not much between him and Steve Walters.

"Then you've got a back-row of Dallas Johnson, who's Gary Larson-like who'll do 40 tackles every game, an impact player in [Sam] Thaiday who plays like a [Gorden] Tallis and a ball player in Ashley Harrison who camps on either side of the ruck like a five-eighth.

"Add the toughness of [Michael] Crocker and Nate Myles and it's a complete group.

"On paper it's just a magnificently balanced back-row of players who collectively as a unit are arguably the best scrum we've got together, ever."

Official statistics from Origin I reveal NSW went easy on Queensland's backs in Melbourne, forcing them to make just 45 tackles.

They opted to direct most of the efforts into attempting to crack the Maroons up the middle.

By comparison Queensland took the ball wide at every opportunity, forcing the Blues' backs to make almost 100 tackles.

Moore, who played over 200 premiership games for North Sydney, played his 17 Origins in the 1990s alongside Larson, forming one of Queensland's best ever defensive partnerships.

In one Origin series the pair averaged more than 90 tackles a game in the back-row.

Moore said yesterday if NSW adopted similar tactics and took Queensland on up the middle it could result in an historic fourth straight Origin series win for the Maroons.

New South Wales
Kurt Gidley (captain), Jarryd Hayne, Jamie Lyon, Joel Monaghan, David Williams, Trent Barrett, Peter Wallace, Brent Kite, Robbie Farah, Michael Weyman, Ben Creagh, Luke O'Donnell, Paul Gallen.

Interchange: Josh Morris, Justin Poore, Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough.

Queensland
Billy Slater, Darius Boyd, Greg Inglis, Willie Tonga, Israel Folau, Darren Lockyer (captain), Johnathan Thurston, Steve Price, Cameron Smith, Petero Civoniceva, Ashley Harrison, Sam Thaiday, Dallas Johnson.

Interchange: Karmichael Hunt, Ben Hannant, Nate Myles, Michael Crocker.